THE SACKVILLE PEERAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 307, 5 February 1910, Page 5

THE SACKVILLE PEERAGE.

[ A ROMANCE OF SPAIN. A DRAMATIC INCIDENT. By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Received February 4, 10.15 p.m. ' London, February 4. The Probate Court w still considering the claim to the Sackville peerage and estates. Li 0.... i-Uward Sackville-West, nephew of the late Lord Sackville, succeeded his uncle in 1908. The other claimant is Ernest Henri Jean Baptist® West, the eldest son of Lord Sackville and a Spanish dancer named Josephine (I'epita) Duran. The claimant seeks a declaration of legitimacy. He produced betters as evidence that the late Lord Sackville acknowledged . Pepita as' his wife.

During the reading of the documents Sir J. C. Bingham (President of the Court) remarked that Lord S;tekvi!le repeatedly held that petitioner was not 'his legitimate son. He (Sir J. C. Bingham) was satisfied \rilli regard to Peipita's marriage with tli.j Spanish dancer named Gabriel Oliva. In the course of further discussion it was shown that the late Lord Saekville left a sworn declaration that he never j\nnrried Pepita, adding that if S'lie passed as his wife it was for her reputation; also that the adopted children, including petitioner, were not legitimate. It transpired that respondent married petitioner's sister. Petitioner wrote lier in IS9O as follows: "Father could not ?iave done more for us. We are his illegitimate children." When in 1891 she had a daughter, petitioner, in a letter •to his father, regretted the child was not, a boy to inherit the estates'. A dramatic incident took place yesterday when petitioner handed to his counsel (Mr. Ward Clarke) a letter requesting him to ask for an adjournment for 'the production of certain documents collated in Spain, adding: "Should Justice 'Bingham refuse the wish you retire from •the case. I would not care to go on •further with such an unfair trial." Mr. Clarke, considering his client was 'iiiiguiderl by advice, thereupon withdrew 'from tlie ease with his junior. Petitioner's' solicitor likewise retired. Mr. Justice Bingham is to decide to•day whether the documents are essential. The points which the Court has to Consider are as follow: Lord Saekville lived for several years 'with a pretty Spanish ballet-girl named 'Josephine Pepita Duran, wlio always as his lawful wife, and by whom lie had three sons and three daughters. These be recognised and declared legitimate. The whole interest of the case resides 'in what purports to be a contract of marriage prior to the cohabitation of Josephine Duai n with Lord Saekville, 'according to which contract Josephine Duran was wedded to a Spanish dancer •named Gabriel Oliva. which would render null and void the declaration of the legitimacy of the issue of Josepluiie Duran and Lord Saekville. The contract, the evident of which is' fpleadeil by Mr. Lionel Edward SackvilleiWest, nephew of the late peer, as establishing his right to succeed to the title, was preserve.! in the Church of San 'Milan, formerly San Gayetano, in Madrid, where the alleged marriage of Josephine Lluran and Gabriel Oliva took place on January 10, 1851. Copies of this marriage contract were •delivered for the use of counsel in the case in 1896 and in 1000. but none, of •these copies made any mention of erasures' and insertions which were subsequently. in lflOl. discovered on the marriage registers in the course of an inquiry, Last year the nephew, Mr. Lionel Sackville-West. who maintain* th."t the marriage contract (Duran to ; 'Gabriel Oliva) is authentic, a«cused tßree men, named Bophnn. iSanchez. and Anton, of having made the erasures which throw doubt upon it. The men were charged in 'Madrid, and it wns thought that the proceedings might settle the validity of the Duran-Olh'a marriage, and with it the question of Mr. Efttest West's legitimacy. But the Court acquitted the men charged without giving a decision as to the document itself. So the claim to the peerage and estates was no further forward or backward by the proceedings in Madrid.